Author: Pigweed and Crowhill

The boys drink and review a no-alcohol porter, then discuss five topics in about 5 minutes each.

#1. Gender-reveal dad. From a YouTube video — This poor fellow was obviously a captive. You could see it in his face. But it wasn’t about a baby, it was about some kid transitioning. It was horrifying. It seemed pretty obvious the man was going along with an ultimatum from his wife. “Support me on this or suffer.”

#2. Means-tested speeding tickets. A Finnish man participating in a strange combination of the Iditerod and a race across the country gets a speeding ticket that was “means tested” based on his salary. His fine was $62,000 for driving 10mph over the speed limit. Because he was wealthy.

#3. Why is nobody covering the Epstein sex scandal? Supposedly there’s a list of elites who took advantage of Epstein’s … hospitality (at the expense of underaged girls). But nobody will touch it — not the media, not the government, not the feminists.

#4. Our broken culture. We have some weird standard these days where someone deliberately provokes a reaction by refusing to conform to society’s standards, and then gets offended when people notice that they’re not conforming to society’s standards.

#5. Joe Biden finally found somebody he wants to deport. Homeschoolers. It’s a horrifying case that makes you wonder if lunatics have taken over every aspect of the government.

The boys drink and review yet another non-alcoholic beer, then discuss Ted Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber, who recently died in prison.

He was a genius. He skipped two grades, went to Harvard, and studied advanced mathematics.

Unfortunately, he was an evil genius.

Ted was a quirky guy who decided that technology and industrial society had to be destroyed. He worked for a few years to raise enough money to live in a shack in Montana. From there he started his terrorist bombing campaign.

His crimes spanned from 1978 to 1995, with a 5-year gap in the middle.

He got caught after his manifesto was published and his brother saw similarities between the manifesto and the ravings and letters of his brother.

P&C drink and review “Gold Rush,” a no-alcohol beer from Sam Adams, then discuss the “I Promise” School.

LeBron James says that he owes a lot of his success to some wonderful people who took him in and helped him out when he was struggling in school. To his credit, LeBron wants to give back, so he created a new school to give disadvantaged kids a chance.

The school started with a lot of hope and promise — and with a lot of LeBron’s money — but it hasn’t lived up to expectations. The results have been pretty awful.

P&C take a hard look and provide some possible reasons why the “I Promise” school didn’t work out that well.

One obvious lesson is that resources are not the problem. Throwing money at the school doesn’t make for better education.

Perhaps LeBron should try this. Find a school that’s doing a good job — like maybe the Catholic school he went to — and help them reach more kids.

P&C drink and review Geralt’s Gold, a no-alcohol Helles brew, then discuss how our views of children have changed.

In the latter half of the 20th century our culture turned away from the previous “seen and not heard” attitude and tried to be more interested in what children say. We also started to be obsessed with childrens’ feelings and their self esteem.

P&C don’t remember anybody caring about their feelings, their self esteem, or whether they were anxious when they were young. It’s as if we’re teaching children to have mental problems.

In the modern environment, the most unruly kid sets the agenda for the classroom because the teachers and principals can’t do anything to them.

This has evolved into the modern “gender” confusion, which seems to have no end of foolishness. Now we have “gender minotaurs” and other ridiculous concepts.

But it’s not just “gender.” The anti-straw hysteria was invented by a nine year old who made up phony statistics that the media swallowed whole. And then he did a TED talk.

Nobody thought to check it. I guess the children were leading.

Along with special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Sam Adams’ Just the Haze, a no-alcohol IPA, then review some short stories by Kurt Vonnegut.

“The Foster Portfolio” has an investment advisor who finds a client who appears to be poor, but secretly has enormous wealth, which he has no interest in. It examines one man’s struggles with his moral failings.

“All the King’s Horses” is about a horrifying chess game played with real people’s lives, including a Colonel’s wife and two sons. It’s a parable about parents’ choices in sending their children off to war.

“Tom Edison’s Shaggy Dog” is clever and fun story about a dog who is smarter than Thomas Edison.

“Welcome to the Monkey House” is a futuristic story about an over-populated planet where society takes extreme measures to reduce the number of people. But then Billy the Poet comes along and throws a wrench in the works.

“Harrison Bergeron” is a brilliant anticipation of modern nonsense about “equity.” The only way to make everyone equal is to make the smart people stupid, the pretty people ugly, and the talented just as dull as everyone else.

The boys drink and review a light copper near bear from Athletic Brewing, then discuss the GOP debates.

The participants were Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson.

The candidates are all so far behind Donald Trump at this point that it was almost like a debate to see who wanted to be Trump’s VP, except that Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, and Mike Pence were clearly competing for the anti/never-Trump lane.

Vivek is widely seen as the winner, but Crowhill wasn’t all that impressed with his performance. He was a little too silly, and he was legitimately criticized for not having any experience.

DeSantis was surprisingly low key, but did well.

Pence tried to defend his actions on Jan. 6 and to push himself out in front by being very aggressive, but it didn’t do much for him.

Haley scored some good zingers on Ramaswamy and helped herself some, but she’s still way behind.

Scott, Christie, Burgum and Hutchinson didn’t distinguish themselves.

P&C also discuss the elephant not in the room — Donald Trump. Is there any hope that we can get somebody other than Trump on the Republican ticket?

The boys drink and review Partake IPA, a no-alcohol beer, then discuss game theory.

Game theory is an attempt to express the calculations that go on in a game as mathematics. It makes certain assumptions.

1. The game has to include multiple players
2. The players must interact with each other
3. There needs to be a reward
4. You assume the players act rationally
5. You assume the players act in their own personal interest

Those things are not always true in real life.

One goal of game theory is to figure out what the best choice is no matter what the other player does. This is called the “Nash equilibrium.”

Two common games in game theory are The Prisoner’s Dilemma and The Ultimatum.

“The Ultimatum” game shows that people don’t always act rationally in their decisions.

The boys drink and review a non-alcoholic black ale from Hairless Dog, then discuss cracks in the intersectional coalition.

When the Democrats abandoned the working class as their primary consituency, they decided to try to create a coalition out of all the misfits and complainers. People who think they’re “oppressed.”

They allegedly form a “coalition.” All for one and all that. But the truth has turned out quite differently. Members of the coalition aren’t sticking together.

. Gays don’t like the trans agenda.
. Muslims aren’t a fan of gay marriage or pride month.
. Not all Latinos want open borders.
. Not all black people are against gun rights.

The alleged coalition is built on sand.

The boys drink and review Penn’s Best NA, then discuss non-alcoholic beers. How they’re made, why anyone would want them, etc.

Then Pigweed tries to stump Crowhill on some Bible trivia.

Starting with the National Geographic’s “50 Influential Figures of the Bible,” then moving on to some internet Bible trivia, Pigweed tries to find the holes in Crowhill’s biblical knowledge.

The boys drink and review Sam Adams’ Wicked Easy Light and Hazy Session IPA, then discuss the Manhatten Project and the recent film, Oppenheimer.

In 1938 some German physicists discovered nuclear fision, which could potentially become a chain reaction, which could potentially become a bomb. The Americans and the Brits were scared the Germans would make an atomic bomb first, so they worked together to beat the Germans to the punch.

Col. (later General) Lesley Groves ran the project along with Robert Oppenheimer.

It wasn’t just the physics. They had to coordinate a huge manufacturing operation, plus the enrichment of the plutonium and uranium. The whole effort was about the size of the U.S. auto industry.

After an overview of the Manhattan project, P&C discuss the “Oppenheimer” movie, which they both liked, but found it a bit long.

The boys drink and review Guinness and port, then discuss some show updates.

The boys suggested that if we rush into electric vehicles to make the world safer and better for the environment, perhaps we should ensure that EVs will do that. Of course they don’t. And they’re a serious fire hazard.

It turns out Canada sucks even worse than the boys had suggested. They’re making it easier and easier to qualify for the “medical assistance in dying” program. Pretty soon you’ll be able to kill yourself just because you’re a Canadian.

After a story about a dispute on a plane, where a large passenger was impinging on the space of another passenger, Pigweed suggested charging passengers by their weight. New New Zealand Airlines has opened the door.

Italy has decided that P&C were right about a Chinese-built “new silk road” and now they regret the “villanous decision” to join China’s belt and road initiative.

P&C predicted that kids who have been through “gender transitions” will start suing their parents and doctors. It’s happening, and it’s delicious.

In one episode the boys discussed a goofy Valentine’s Day show where people were “sending out their love” to themselves. Now we’re seeing stories of women marrying themselves.

P&C review a Rye Pale Ale from Seven Locks Brewing, then discuss consciousness.

Why does the brain produce the subjective experience of consciousness? Physical things have mass, energy, electric charge, etc., but we don’t typically associate such attributes with physical things.

It’s even more troubling when we consider that it seems possible for a human being to be able to do everything a human does without any subjective experience. Or, in other words, what does subjective experience add?

Is it possible that consciousness is simply a part of the universe, like gravity, and that it manifests to different degrees at different times? If so, what are the triggers that make it manifest?

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Everyday Amber, then discuss the development, history, and significance of the suburbs.

Crowhill mentions his conflict between his preference for free-market solutions, and the reality that some level of governemnt planning is necessary for reasonable civil life.

Longinus gives some historical context for cities and suburbs, and ties the big suburbs — like Levittown — to the ability to construct houses in an assembly-like manner, effective transportation, and the GI bill, which made financing possible.

* Why do we have front lawns?
* How did the suburbs hurt the cities?
* When and why did malls and strip malls develop?
* The relationship between cities and counties.

With special guest Longinus, the boys drink and review Citrus Squall double golden ale from Dogfish Head brewery, then discuss several short stories by John Cheever.

“The Chaste Clarissa” is about a young married woman who vacations on Martha’s Vineyard and catches the eye of the local Cassanova. Try as he might, he can’t break down her defenses, until the very end, when he discovers her weak spot.

“The Housebreaker of Shady Hill” is an interesting morality tale about a man who finds himself on hard times after leaving a stable but boring job. He tries to make it on his own, but isn’t making it, and he ends up stealing from a neighbor to cover expenses. From there his life becomes a moral slippery slope, and everything in life seems dirty and disgusting. He’s tortured by what he has done, and his life starts to fall apart.

In “A Worm in the Apple” the narrator is trying to find the inner rot in everything, but finds a family where things actually are what they seem to be. Happy. Content.

“The Country Husband” has become a bit player in his own story. His life isn’t important. It has to take a back seat to the boring circumstances of daily life. He wakes up to the meaninglessness of his own life and tries to find some solace in an affair with the babysitter.

“The Swimmer” is among Cheever’s most famous stories. A man decides to go home by a route that takes him through every pool in the neighborhood. But his journey takes on a surrealistic quality, and may not be what it seems to be.

The boys drink and review three malt liquors, then discuss Canada.

It’s a beautiful place with very nice people, but politically it’s the worst country in the western world.

Aside from Canada ruining our weather in Maryland with their forest fires, we’ve been hearing too many ultra woke stories from our neighbors to the north.

There’s the case of the father who was fined $30,000 for “misgendering his daughter” and is currently out on bail.

Canada also has a horrifying program that allows people to commit medically assisted suicide. It started with hard cases, but of course it expanded to allow people who are depressed. And now the state can euthanize a child without the parent’s permission. It’s a complete horror show.

Remember the way the Canadians treated the truckers? The government-controlled media flagrantly lied about the truckers, called them racists — all the standard liberal playbook. Then the government shut down the trucker’s ability to speak, they froze their bank accounts, then stole money people donated to their cause (from a GoFundMe account). This is straight-forward totalitarianism.

Canada also banned conversion therapy. If a Christian pastor says that homosexuals can reform, he goes to jail. The modern perspective is that you have to be affirmed in whatever crazy thing you say — unless you say that you don’t want to be gay.

And then there’s Neil Young — that whiny, annoying liberal. He’s Canadian.

There’s also been a rash of vandalism against Catholic Churches in Canada.

The Canadian military is having a hard time recruiting because of the use of “gender analysis.”

The Canadian screen awards are even more woke than Hollywood.

The country is going down the tubes. Wake up people!